The Fascist New Frontier (Free MP3 download)

In this 1962 radio talk, Ayn Rand explains her view that President Kennedy’s New Frontier is most accurately described as fascistic, in that—contrary to socialism and communism, which require the abolition of private property—Kennedy’s program calls for the imposition of state controls while preserving the fiction of private ownership, as did the fascist states of twentieth century Europe.

In her assessment, Rand identifies a fundamental principle that Kennedy’s program shares with those European states—the “subordination and sacrifice of the individual to the collective.” This principle, Rand argues, is the “ideological root of all statist systems, in any variation, from welfare statism to a totalitarian dictatorship”—and it is ubiquitous in the political dialogue of 1960s America. Arguing in opposition to those who held that the New Frontier was a socialist initiative, Rand offers as evidence excerpts from Kennedy’s own speeches as well as statements made by others in his administration.

In this talk you will also hear Rand discuss:

Why the difference between socialism and fascism is superficial but “significant psychologically”

What “public-private partnership” really means

The Kennedy administration’s assault on free speech and principled thinking

What distinguishes America from other nations

This lecture is a radio talk. A version of this talk was originally delivered at Boston’s Ford Hall Forum, America’s oldest (founded in 1908) continuously operating free public lecture series. Over the years, such luminaries as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Eleanor Roosevelt, and Henry Kissinger have appeared on its podium.

An edited version of this talk is available in The Ayn Rand Column, a collection of articles by Rand.